On November 2nd, Tribal Leaders and community members spoke out against the Ambler Road Project and urged a no action alternative during the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) public meeting in Fairbanks. BLM is hosting a series of public meetings to seek input on the draft supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) for the Ambler Road project proposed by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority.
“According to BLM’s SEIS, all of the effects are adverse, substantial, unacceptable, and irreversible,” said Chief/Chairman Brian Ridley of Tanana Chiefs Conference (TCC), “It clearly and strongly supports the belief that choosing the No Action Alternative is in the best interest of Tribes, subsistence users, Alaskans, visitors, and the Nation.”
Chief Ridley emphasized that many Fairbanks residents have opposed other mining projects that would hall minerals through the city, but those same residents have not been vocal about the Ambler Road’s impacts which would cause more disruption.
“Because we are taking this testimony in Fairbanks–a community that has rallied loudly against the idea of a Tribally-owned mine using the roads in our town–I would specifically mention that the Supplemental EIS estimates up to 168 truck trips per day or seven ore trucks per hour, nearly three times as high as what is proposed for the trucking route from Tetlin to Fairbanks,” said Chief Ridley.
First Chief of Evansville, Frank Thompson said, “While the impacts of the proposed road are substantial and unacceptable, the indirect effects of at least four large scale mines, and perhaps up to a dozen other mines, will be disastrous and unsustainable for the region.”
In 2021, TCC’s Full Board of Directors, which consists of 42 member Tribes, passed Full Board Resolution 2021-11 which directs TCC to protect the Koyukuk River and surrounding areas from the harmful impacts of the Ambler Road Project.
The comment period for the SEIS is open until Friday, December 22nd. Comments can be submitted online at the BLM website: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/57323/530
ASK BLM TO CHOOSE THE NO ACTION ALTERNATIVE.
